Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think that Levandowski, Snowden, or Assange deserve pardons.
Why is that? Do you not believe in whistle blower protections or do you think that Snowden lied?
How is Levandowski a whistle blower?
Anthony Levandowski Pardoned
451–460 of 996 posts
Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned
#452>This pardon is strongly supported by James Ramsey, Peter Thiel, Miles Ehrlich, Amy Craig, Michael Ovitz, Palmer Luckey, Ryan Petersen, Ken Goldberg, Mike Jensen, Nate Schimmel, Trae Stephens, Blake Masters, and James Proud, among others. I guess it pays to have rich friends.
Which Ken Goldberg? The UC Berkeley professor?
https://goldberg.berkeley.edu/
Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned
#453I have to say there is quite a lot to learn from Levandowski.[0] I am not a fan of corruption but it's undeniable that he played whatever cards he had in life and played them hard. He'll probably be a shadowy billionaire quite soon. One quote stood out to me at the very end of the article: “The only thing that matters is the future,” he told me after the civil trial was settled. “I don’t even know why we study histor…
Bitcoin scams are a great illustration of how to monetize knowledge of history. Or I guess you could just use modern day regulations and emulate what they prohibit in new markets?
Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned
#454No Assange, no Snowden. What a fool I am, I seriously envisaged that could happen... Instead it’s just more and more corruption.
Pay attention to that list, each pardon has a list of people who supported each pardon. Nobody from the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU is on that list. We are wasting our time and energy caring about either of those organizations. Let them stick to filing Amicus Briefs in courts, but they clearly have no pull or influence or backchannel despite our tech scene thinking they do.
How many were on Obamas list?
Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned
#455Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a foreigner Presidential pardons + the appointment (and life terms) of Supreme Court judges baffle me. How can a country that claims to be a leader in democracy have these two wildly abused bugs? Edit: fixed use of election instead of appointment
As an American, I agree with everything you said. (Well, except that Supreme Court justices are appointed, not elected.) The other gaping flaw is the systemic, undemocratic bias that determines the makeup of our Upper House.
The issue you're referring to with the Senate is, of course, the fact that each state gets two senators, regardless of population. This means that the sparsely populated North Dakota has the same number of senators as California.
This a feature, not a bug, and in fact the United States would not exist without it. The senate prevents small states from being dominated by large states, and is the only reason that smaller states like Rhode Island agreed to join the union in the first place.
If we were to alter this configuration of the Senate, the same question would undoubtedly arise--why should small states like North Dakota, Vermont, and Oklahoma remain in the Union, only to be dictated to by the citizens of Florida, New York and California?
Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned
#456Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is there a lot to learn from him? His amorality has left his reputation in tatters. Yes he earned some money but at what cost? Is being a reviled shadowy billionaire really worthy of praise or respect?
Once you have all the money you need what value is a reputation?
Your reputation only matters if you wish to have relationships with other humans.
Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned
#457No Assange, no Snowden. What a fool I am, I seriously envisaged that could happen... Instead it’s just more and more corruption.
Pay attention to that list, each pardon has a list of people who supported each pardon. Nobody from the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU is on that list. We are wasting our time and energy caring about either of those organizations. Let them stick to filing Amicus Briefs in courts, but they clearly have no pull or influence or backchannel despite our tech scene thinking they do.
I think I'll be the one to stake out "influence within the Trump administration was highly unusual and doesn't reflect influence in more standard Republican or Democratic presidencies". I guess I wasn't aware this was controversial, but I feel I can support it with evidence.
Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned
#458I have to say there is quite a lot to learn from Levandowski.[0] I am not a fan of corruption but it's undeniable that he played whatever cards he had in life and played them hard. He'll probably be a shadowy billionaire quite soon. One quote stood out to me at the very end of the article: “The only thing that matters is the future,” he told me after the civil trial was settled. “I don’t even know why we study histor…
Literally everything about the world we live in has been shaped directly and indirectly by historical events and ideas. Everything, from what you wear, what you eat, the shape of the surface of the planet, the ideas you think, your conception of human beings in the universe, and the fact that you are reading this comment (and not listening to it or feeling it.)
The idea that we all just “appear” on Earth from some formless void, then subsequently make totally independent decisions, devoid of any previous influence, is both highly naive and far too common.
Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned
#459Earlier quoted context omitted.
Constitution has some excellent checks and balances but the blanket pardon isn't one of them. The pardon doesn't do anything to address systemic problems in the justice system and has become a channel for doling out political favors.
This myth that the US constitution is in any way "good" is weird. It's one of the earliest; and fortunately others leared from its mistakes. Including the US itself, when it had considerable influence in drafting the WW2 losers constitutions, which uncoincidentally are quite different from the US. Checks and balances essentially don't work in the US. The best bit is simply a decent judiciary, but that was mostly copi…
>Seriously, name 1 check/balance that's actually particularly good!
The person in charge with executing the law is different from the people in charge of crafting the laws to be executed.
Re: Anthony Levandowski Pardoned
#460No Assange, no Snowden. What a fool I am, I seriously envisaged that could happen... Instead it’s just more and more corruption.
Pay attention to that list, each pardon has a list of people who supported each pardon. Nobody from the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU is on that list. We are wasting our time and energy caring about either of those organizations. Let them stick to filing Amicus Briefs in courts, but they clearly have no pull or influence or backchannel despite our tech scene thinking they do.
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